Friday, October 18, 2013

MY COLLECTION - Some Big, Bad Bruins

OK, maybe not big or bad.....but definitely Bruins. Three of them to be exact.

Earlier this week was the ever popular and frequented trade night. Something I look forward too just as much as the weekend show or...well, pretty much anything that has to do with hockey card collecting.

Lots of stuff on the radar (and one bite as you'll soon see). But there's always things that catch my eye on a spur of the moment. And no, this month it was not boxes of cards. No caving. Just a couple rounds of pack wars that yielded nothing.

You may remember my post last month about Boston goalie Doug Keans. Well, just to update the story, the cards successfully made it to Colin and were promptly signed. And a good chuckle from Doug when he learned of my "pinky" comment.

This month, one of the trade boxes had some 84/85 OPC in it. What are the odds of that? And what do you think the odds are that sitting in those few singles would be a Keans rc?

Yup....pretty good. After a fun story was told to the card owner, the piece of cardboard was happily passed along to me - and will be promptly mailed off to Colin. Now he has the grand slam of Doug Keans cards. All four of them!

Sadly, like most of his other pics, Doug gets the pregame treatment. I do like this design (my fave of the 80's) and the pic oozes of the time. All things considered - a great card.

Next up is a card that represents many different messages in this hobby.

When I go to trade night, most of the crowd is (if I had to guess) 30-40 year olds. With the hobby evolving the way it is, I'm not surprised at that. But every once in a while there's a young'n....and I'm not talking a guy in his early 20's. I mean somebody that would be in the 12-15 year old range. One such person is now what I would consider a "regular" to trade night.

At first, it was interesting to see the dynamic of the shop. How would people interact with him? Would they give him hobby respect? Would they simply dismiss him as just "a kid"? Would they flat out ignore him? I'll say this, he made a solid first impression on me (and others I think) and has really made a positive name for himself at trade night.

Why? He's polite, respectful, easy going, and honest. In fact, there are some guys who come through the door that could learn a thing or two from him. And the dude has a super-organized trade box and binder. Makes me look REAL BAD!

So I mentioned that I'd be looking to trade and was sifting through his binder. Thinking I would come away with a handful of goodies, I was surprised to find just one card that caught my eye. It was a low-ender to say the least.

So what does this guy do? He says "You can just have it." He mentioned a trade we made a couple months back and how it favored him slightly.

That's a pretty cool gesture. For anybody at any age.

This is the card. Now Rogie may not be known primarily for his days in Boston, but the mask he's sporting in the pic is sah-wheet. Have I mentioned I like the vintage lids?

So to Dylan (I hope I'm spelling that right), thank you very much. Not just for the card, but for being a fantastic addition to my trade night festivities.

Lastly, the card that would be classed in the "spur-of-the-moment" column.

Some of you may know that Bobby Orr is coming out with a biography (on the reading list to be sure). As part of the promotional push, Orr is doing some publicity (a ton of it by his standards).

Take all that and add to it that I'm currently reading Searching For Bobby Orr and well, this got the best of me.

I saw this card sitting in a trade box and asked what it would take to get my hands on it.

A hard-signed Orr...not bad at all. Sure, the market is a little saturated right now with his signatures, but still, he's one of the greatest players ever to lace up the skates. And one of the classiest to boot.

A little back and forth and the card came home with me. It's one I don't think I'll be putting in my trade box any time soon. I like having this one in the collection.

Love that Vachon card ! I also think that the hobby lost many of its younger collectors through greed and high costs - perpatrated by its elders and card companies. You're doing the right thing by acting as a good example (you blog about politeness paying off).